The present invention, in some embodiments thereof, relates to livestock management and, more particularly, but not exclusively, to monitoring food intake of cattle on an individual animal basis.
The demand for milk and meat is on a rise due to increasing population and prosperity. Simultaneously, quality and safety requirements have become stricter, and costs of raw materials, labor and energy have been rising. This trend necessitates enhancing efficiency in operational management of livestock. Various technological solutions for providing livestock with the right care and monitoring them at an individual level are being investigated.
Food intake is known to be the most costly parameter in livestock management. Therefore, farmers have a vested interest in monitoring food intake of individual animals and/or relating food intake to animal productivity. For example, isolation of a live-stock sub-population having a higher ratio of meat growth to fodder consumption, or milk production to fodder consumption may significantly affect future productivity of the livestock population. Information regarding food intake may also be useful when applying computer controlled concentrates and/or self feeders for feeding individual animals.
Israeli Patent No. 119109 entitled “A controlled automatic fodder consumption system and a method for feeding livestock using same,” the contents of which is incorporated herein by reference describes a controlled fodder consumption system that provides for correlating animal identity with fodder consumption. The system includes a means for identifying individual animals in a herd, yoke gates that can be opened and closed by an automatic means, and a plurality of feeding troughs associated with a means for weighting the fodder in the troughs. Fodder consumption is determined by measuring weight of the fodder in the troughs during a feeding session and the cow's identity is correlated with the fodder consumption determined.